It was always his ing fault, wasn’t it? He forgot to call, he forgot to come to the restaurant. He sighed. It wasn’t that he forgot. He was just.. an idol. The other was an idol too, now, and he should already know by now. Sometimes his schedules were too full for him to be able to make it.

Taemin looked out the window, not for the first time wondering if it was still worth it.

~

Jongin looked at his phone wordlessly. It was 3 am, and Taemin still hadn’t called. He had made so many promises… Ones that were being broken over and over now.

He understood. He did. He was an idol too, he knew that sometimes your schedule was hectic. But when Taemin actually called him, he made time in his schedule. Even if it called for him asking Kyungsoo’s help (which he absolutely detested doing because Kyungsoo always hung it over his head).

It just seemed like Taemin didn’t care anymore. Jongin rolled over, refusing to look at his phone anymore. Maybe tomorrow he’d delete Taemin’s contact out of his phone.

~

It had been several days since he saw a certain person’s name in his missed calls, and he wasn’t talking about his mother. He was starting to get a little worried, but.. after all, Kai was an idol. Maybe he was just busy.

Taemin hesitated to call, and in the end decided not to. Jongin was the type to make sure he called. He’d call sooner or later.

But all throughout the rest of the day, he looked at his phone thinking about reasons why Kai hadn’t called.

~

Jongin didn’t look at his phone for the next week. It was a period he’d set up for himself, to see if Taemin called to check up on him. If Taemin hadn’t called by the end of a week, Jongin told himself he’d break up with Taemin.

It was a hard decision, but he was tired of being let down and hurting himself by expecting more of Taemin than Taemin could give. He figured it was also selfish of him.

And once he thought about it… they simply weren’t compatible. They used to be, but they had both changed far too much. Taemin used to be so much more outgoing, and he was nowhere near as suspicious of people as he was now.

He eyed the way Se Hun was hanging all over Lu Han and sighed, trying to fight back the rising green-eyed monster known as jealousy.

~

By the end of the week, without receiving any calls from Kai, Taemin was a nervous wreck. He always had his phone on hand, even when he was in the shower. He was starting to wonder if something was seriously wrong.

Even if there wasn’t, Taemin found himself pressing the dial button on his phone that night feeling uncommonly timid.

Three rings later and a sleepy “hello?” made Taemin’s heart jump to his throat. It wasn’t Jongin’s voice. He hung up immediately, and didn’t know whether he felt more angry or shocked.

~

The next morning, when Jongin checked his voicemail, he honestly wasn’t expecting Taemin’s voice in his ear. He really thought Taemin wouldn’t call. That he would just keep on going.

What he got was a quiet, unnaturally vulnerable voice asking him to meet in SHINee’s practice room at 8 that night. He was more than glad that Taemin had asked to meet this time, and was excited to hear Taemin’s words.

~

It got closer and closer to the time Kai was supposed to be appearing, and Taemin grew more and more nervous. He hated breaking up with people, and Kai would be one of the worst. Kai had been his very first boyfriend, the first guy he’d ever fallen in love with. It hadn’t been easy to admit to himself that he had feelings, and it had taken even longer to admit them to Kai. He lamented his stubbornness now.  

He thought back on the progression of his and Kai’s relationship and felt the pain of remembering the better times.

Until Taemin remembered Jonghyun. Jonghyun, who was making himself perfectly clear lately about his feelings. All the skinship recently wasn’t the company’s idea.

~

Jongin had a smile on his face when he came in. He was always happy to see Taemin, and tonight his boyfriend looked extra good… Like they were going on a date. His smile widened when he thought of this.

He walked up to Taemin and hugged him tightly. His smile faltered a little when he noticed Taemin didn’t hug him back, and he stepped away to look at Taemin’s expression.

He was shocked to see no emotion at all there. Taemin was usually smiling at him, if anything. His smile disappeared, and he frowned a little.

                “What’s wrong, hyung?” he asked, and he thought he saw a flash of anger on Taemin’s face.

                “I.. want to break up,” he hadn’t expected this at all. Taemin’s voice had no inflection at all when he went on explaining. “After I called your phone and someone else picked up, I figured you’d want the same thing.”

It took a minute for the words to register, and for their hidden accusation to sink in. When they did, Jongin looked disbelievingly at Taemin. He tried to speak several times, and failed. There was nothing to say, really. He sighed, and squared his shoulders.

                “I never cheated on you, Taemin-hyung,” he turned to walk away. “Kyungsoo-hyung answered my phone for me while I was in the shower. He told me the next day that he forgot to tell me I’d had a call.” He didn’t see the shame on Taemin’s face. “But thanks for having so much faith in us. Now that you mention it.. I guess I do want to break up. See you around, hyung.”

Jongin walked out of the practice room and oddly enough.. He felt like he’d had a weight lifted off his chest.

~

Taemin was ashamed of himself, but he owned up to his mistake like a man. He left a voicemail on Kai’s phone (since he wasn’t answering Taemin’s phone calls, and who could blame him, really?) apologizing for his mistake.

Jonghyun had finally come out and asked him for a relationship a couple of months after him and Kai had broken up, and Taemin had said yes. Why not? Jonghyun was a very good boyfriend, if a little forgetful. He was used to being the one to take care of his partner, but Jonghyun wasn’t like that. Jonghyun took care of him, and it was nice enough.

The only thing was.. he couldn’t get Kai off his mind.

~

Jongin saw a shadow next to him, and didn’t look up from his phone. The shadow was familiar enough he knew exactly who it was.

                “What do you want, Kyungsoo-hyung?” he asked disinterestedly. Lu Han was coming back to Korea in a couple of weeks and he couldn’t be any more excited. Sure, they were apart a lot. But Lu Han put effort into their relationship that Taemin never had, and it was a refreshing change. Plus, he was the one taking care of Lu Han. He surprised himself when he realized he actually liked it.

                “Taemin-ah is here,” Jongin’s head whipped up from his phone, confusion clear in his face. Next to Kyungsoo, Taemin stood looking down at Jongin unsurely. Without being asked, Kyungsoo left the pair to themselves.

To his immense surprise, Jongin felt nothing when he saw Taemin. No heart flutters, no blush. He was back to being just a friend. Jongin smiled.

~

Taemin came back to the SHINee dorm feeling deeply saddened.

Had he really been expecting Kai to just take him back with arms wide open? Well.. yes, if he was being completely honest. They had both messed up, but Kai had accepted it and moved on. He’d told Taemin that it was better they go their separate ways now, and Taemin hated that he heard such wise advice coming from him now.

He didn’t want wise. He never had.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

So I've never attempted Taekai. I kinda like how this turned out, though. ^^

I hope you enjoyed this. c:

~~

Til next time, loves. ^o~